Places of worship have been told they can open again to 50 people from Monday, but not every church will be throwing their doors open at the earliest opportunity.
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According to Goulburn Presbyterian Church pastor Mike Adams, they'll be proceeding very cautiously from here.
"We'll take our time making a plan," he said.
"We need to seriously consider the best health advice coming from the experts and think about the risk factors."
Mr Adams said that his church contained both vulnerable people and health workers who needed to continue isolating, and so he envisaged the continuation of an online element to their services for some time, possibly permanently.
"It may mean we meet online for longer, or in small home churches connecting in on Zoom, which is a halfway measure," he said.
"Every church in Goulburn will be thinking through these options."
Throughout lockdown, Mr Adams has been pre-recording a sermon and some songs, then incorporating them into a Sunday Zoom meeting with parishioners.
The whole thing is livestreamed via Facebook as well, allowing other members of the community to join in.
"When people talk about church re-opening, well, churches never closed," he said.
"We just changed our way of connecting."
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His church's decision-making during the lockdown has been guided by two principles.
"First, the Bible says that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever," said Mr Adams.
"So society and our circumstances may change, but he doesn't.
"And secondly, the greatest commandment is to love God and love your neighbour - that drives our love for Goulburn and every decision we make we run past that.
"So if we need to keep our building shut, then we're happy to, because that's one of the ways we can love our neighbours.
"People's safety is far more important.
"Our community can gather online, and we will do that for however long it takes to be safe - and we can still experience the power of God's love shown to us in Jesus."
He said he believed the church, and society as a whole, had learned a lot during the COVID-19 period.
"We've had to change, same as the rest of society, and going back I think nothing will look the same - it's a defining moment for our generation," said Mr Adams, adding that he believed good hygiene and better use of technology would be lasting lessons.
"Technology can't replicate face-to-face but it can supplement it.
"We've been made to think about how we should keep using it, to give access for people in nursing homes or people far away."
NSW Minister for health Brad Hazzard has indicated that a checklist was being developed by NSW Health to help churches plan for reopening.
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